Left to right: Mory Sar, co-founder, and vice-president of the Cambodian Youth Network; Olivia Enos, a policy analyst at the Asian Studies Center of the Heritage Foundation; and Courtney Weatherby, a Southeast Asia research analyst at the Stimson Center. The panelists talked about Cambodia's human rights situation at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, May 29, 2018. (Hong Chenda/VOA Khmer)

Washington, DC – Cambodia’s energized youth activists and large demographic of young voters could become key actors in halting the country’s democratic backsliding, political analysts said, though they warned that challenging the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) could also put youths at serious risk.